Profile of Engr Fidelis Ishie - Ukwuani LG Chairmanship Candidate for Labour Party.

[FIDELIS ISHIE]

​     Chief (Engr.) Fidelis E. Ishie, C.Eng, MNSE, MASCE.

Chief (Engr.) Fidelis Ishie, a native of Ebedei in Ukwuani LGC was born in late 1950s and is the son of a local Dry Cleaner and farmer, Late Mr. Stephen Enuma Ishie (a.k.a Whiteshow) who was migrated at  birth from Ebedei to Umutu after his mother died during delivery. The father lived his entire life in Umutu till his death in late 1980s. Fidelis mother, Late Mrs. Comfort Ishie (Nee Nwachukwu Okpala) hailed from Umutu and was sandwiched between Chief Anthony Nwachukwu (aka Holyman & Ekwueme of Umutu) and Late Chief JSK Nwachukwu (Ochiligwe) as immediate senior and junior brothers, respectively. Engr. Ishie has a strong maternal lineage to Umutu as a result of these. He is from Umu Okonye Mgbor Family of Umunyalum Quarters in Ebedei. Neither of the parents went to school.

       

He started his primary school in 1965 at Local Authority (now Ugbeleme) Primary School, Umutu and finished in 1971. He was throughout on top of his Class and it was not surprising that he came out with Distinctions in the Primary 6 final examinations. As a first son and a dutiful young boy, he combined his primary school education with assistance in farm work and his dad’s rubber crumbs buying business. He has a great memory and he vividly gives detail account of the civil war as witnessed by him at that young age, today. He carried on with this assistance in rubber business until his mid-career in the secondary school.

Engr. Ishie narrowly missed not going to secondary school due to his direct parent’s low awareness. He was eventually enrolled in St. George’s Grammar School Obinomba after passing the qualifying examination, in January 1973. While in St. George’s, Fidelis remained also, on top of the Class till Class 5 in 1977. Little wonder when he also came out top in the WAEC examinations of that year with Grade “A” in all the nine subjects and an enviable Aggregate 9 that was the best and a new record in the entire Aboh Division of then Bendel State. His record has remained to date in St. George’s. Fidelis had no special subjects while in St. George’s, in fact he was an all-rounder. He played lawn tennis and a great supporter of the school football team.

Fidelis started teaching in St. George’s the very month his WASC results were released. He remembered vividly how the school authorities requested for his “Teaching Assistance” and a teacher in the school had to personally drive him to Utagba Ogbe in November 1977, to facilitate the employment process at the local Ministry of Education. He taught General Science in the junior class and Physics, Mathematics and Additional Mathematics in the senior classes during the short one year but explosive period of his teaching career.

He is well educated both in the University and in the industry, well traveled and internationally exposed.  He gained admission to study Civil engineering in October 1978 at the University of Lagos. Due to his high intelligence and performance in the undergraduate programmes, Engr. Ishie was awarded the Federal Government Merit Scholarship in 1979. He finished with a First Class honours degree in Civil engineering in June 1983. Fidelis Ishie while at UNILAG, was a committed member of the Chapter’s Federated Union of Ndokwa Students and held the post of General Secretary in 1980/81 and related well with the Ndokwa community forums and particularly the Anioma group. He contested for, and won a seat in the Students Union Parliament to represent his Engineering Faculty in 1980/81 session.

Fidelis Ishie was employed in Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria in January 1985 after the mandatory one year National Youths Service Corps Scheme (NYSC) and remained with the Company for over 23 years, until voluntary retirement in June 2008. He performed various engineering roles in the Company as project engineer, design engineer, senior design/construction engineer, maintenance coordinator, coaching & mentoring engineer and project manager. He had an excellent career that took him to most countries in Europe, South Africa and USA. He attended many management training programmes in Nigeria, the Netherlands, UK, France, Germany, Belgium and USA. He was trained at the University of Pensylvania, Philadelphia, USA on Leadership and Management that has positioned him today for the challenges of managing a complex Local Government like Ukwuani. He is currently into private engineering business in Port Harcourt.

Engr. Ishie is an accomplished Chartered Engineer and is registered member of Nigerian Society of Engineers (MNSE), Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) with specialization in Geotechnical engineering, Structural engineering and Water resources. Some awards have followed too.  

Outside work, Engr. Ishie is a very sociable personality and was one time, the National President of Ndokwa Social Club of Nigeria, a Patron of many other social and youth groups, within and outside the Ndokwa nation. Before openly joining politics in June 2009, association with these social groups led to his criss-crossing the entire Ndokwa nation on various assignments. He understands the greater rudiments and good traditions of the Ukwuani people and accommodates very freely, the rich cultures of other nationalities. He speaks the Ukwuani language very well and has great mastery and high proficiency level in the language, as Professors Wole Soyinka has, and China Achebe had, in English Language. At his community level, he is named the “bridge” in this regard, for being able to communicate well with them in the dialect, often punctuating it with proverbs and verifiable history, and in turn to the elite who prefer or can only speak in English language. He is a very jovial person and could tell interesting rib-breaking stories to no end, of his personal experiences/encounter and that known of others.

He has also made tireless and selfless contribution to the growth and development of his communities and was at various times, the Leader of these communities in his Port Harcourt base.  At home, he remained an opinion leader and a member of the ruling class. He practices the African extended family system to the core, a philanthropist and a good host to teeming visitors that come his way and particularly, the generality of kinsmen, colleagues, acquaintances and job seekers to his Port Harcourt home which he opens for all. He made sure that education is extended to all members of his immediate and extended family that deserve it and demonstrate ability to learn.

He was a pioneer member of St. George’s Grammar School Old Boys Association (SAGOBA) Eastern/Port Harcourt Zone and a two-time Chairman of the Zone. He has also received award for Leadership & Committment from the larger Association.

He loves listening to Ndokwa highlife music. His other hobbies are watching good football, with no particular affiliation to any Club, and traveling. He enjoys the home front company and can be sick for not visiting home for three weeks where he enjoys the un-adulterated palm wine, tapped from the standing life tree. In a successful year, Engr. Ishie who is widely travelled, will go on vacation to South Africa, the Europe, Canada or USA. He is a pioneer member/contributor of the Ndokwa-web internet group.

A protector and defender of the Ndokwa tradition and values, Engr. Ishie is married and has many children most of whom are now adults/University graduates. He gives God all the glory for his achievements.

His journey into open politics was mooted by the clarion call for men of honour and integrity to join politics and stop armchair advocacy about the candidates being imposed on the Ndokwa nation by the ruling Party. He feels he can provide an efficient administration at the LG level, the needed CHANGE and as springboard for higher leadership opportunities.He is always hunted by that Albert Einsten's statement that "The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything"

He wants an opportunity to provide an efficient leadership that would subsequently serve as a template, in Ukwuani LGC and solicits for your vote in the impending Local Council elections, scheduled for 25th October, 2014. If you do, you would not regret it.

Regards,

Fidelis E. Ishie
Ebedei.
26th September, 2014.